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Egyptian police have "accidentally" fired shots at an Israeli army jeep near the border this weekend, according to a first investigation into the incident, the army said on Wednesday.
On Saturday evening, a battalion commander from one of the units guarding the Israeli-Egyptian border reported that shots had been fired at his jeep, injuring or damaging the vehicle.
An initial investigation into the Israeli Defense Forces fire revealed that the shooting was fired by an Egyptian police unit stationed nearby.
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An army spokesman said the gunshots appeared to have been fired "accidentally", but it was not clear for now if Egyptian soldiers had misidentified the military vehicle Israeli or he was acting from a failed shot.
"We do not think it was deliberately against Israel," the IDF spokesman said.
According to the army, Israel and Egypt both continue to investigate the incident and could present a joint final report once their investigations are completed.
The army spokesman pointed out that there was "an exceptional incident" on a generally relatively quiet border with regard to violence. Smuggling and other types of criminal activity occur regularly along the Israeli-Egyptian border.
In January, Israeli and Egyptian security forces engaged in what the border police have described as an armed "battle" against drug traffickers during a large-scale smuggling attempt over the fence. from Sinai, Sunday night, resulting in the death of a suspect.
A month later, Israeli police arrested 20 people suspected of drug trafficking in the Bedouin town of Bir Hadaj, accused of being IDF patrols to go to the Egyptian border to receive their illegal cargo.
Bir Hadaj, located about 20 minutes from the border, has long been considered by the police as a drug smuggling site. Gangs operating outside the city would stock marijuana from Egypt before distributing it to dealers throughout the country, police said.
A member of the alleged smugglers' network told Hadashot that he would continue his activities with his cohorts despite the police raid.
"We have enough money and money to smuggle cannabis and marijuana out of Egypt, and we have more military equipment than the police have recovered," he told the chain. of TV. "The police will not stop us from our traffic."
Tragic incidents also occurred on the Israeli-Egyptian border, including one in October 2016, in which a 15-year-old Bedouin Israeli, Nimer Bbadem Abu Amar, was shot dead by Egyptian troops near Mount Harif in the southern part of the country. Israel, while he was working on the border fence on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.
Following an investigation, the Israeli Defense Forces said that an Egyptian security officer had opened fire in a "misidentification" case.
Abu Amar, originally from Lakiya, a predominantly Bedouin village in southern Israel, had been employed by a civilian subcontractor hired by the Ministry of Defense to carry out fencing maintenance work.
The teenager was working near the border at the time of the incident and was preparing coffee for other workers in an area where the designation between Israeli territory and Egyptian territory may be ill-defined.
Abu Amar was apparently confused by Egyptian troops as being a smuggler or terrorist belonging to one of the insurgent jihadist groups affiliated with the Islamic State Organization, with whom Egypt is currently fighting a war with Israeli help.
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